Deep Down [OPEN]

[angelique marie tellings.]

Angelique nodded. Her roommate Nadia was one of very few people who didn’t insist on trying to start a conversation with her. She looked away from Jack, her gaze focusing on the seagull as it waddled around. There was an awkward silence, but it wasn’t so bad.
Sometimes Angelique thought she was made of awkward silences.

She watched the bird fly off. Sometimes she wished animal empathy was her power. She liked animals, and, most of the time, they also liked her because she wasn’t loud and didn’t make any sudden moves.

“That’s…an unusual habit,” Jack was saying. “If you don’t mind me saying.”

“I don’t,” said Angelique. “It’s just…well, I kind of got into it because—”

She shut her mouth before she could say any more. For a girl who didn’t like to talk, she’d just come awfully close to telling someone from St. Michael's she had a power. Which, according to the teachers, was the one thing you should never, ever do.

[dorian armel smith.]

Perhaps there was more to this whispering thing than he had thought. She had distinctly shut up at this point, as if she was afraid of divulging something. Something like a secret. At first, he had been too aggressive to take real notice of the whispering habit. When he thought about it, he supposed it was just some strange eccentricity, but then, she didn't seem the kind of person to put value in eccentricity.

It seemed this mystery girl was, in fact, full of secrets. Life for him would have been a lot simpler, he reflected, if he could just cut her open and take them out by hand. As it was, that wouldn't quite do in this case. He would have to keep digging in a conversational manner.

"Because...?" He prompted, curiously. Getting words out of this girl in their cat-and-mouse game of dialogue was like getting blood out of a stone. Spilling this secret of hers - whatever it was - had been right on the tip of her tongue. Now was not the moment to back down.

His expression changed into something like a cautionary concern.
"What is it?" He said, softly, keeping his voice down now as if he himself was keeping a secret - or getting ready to receive one. "You can tell me." He assured her sincerely. His eyebrows were furrowed in concern. He was clearly worried about her, and her sudden silence on the topic. At least that was how it should appear.

[angelique marie tellings.]

Jack sounded almost like he was worried. “You can tell me,” he said, like it was no big thing. He didn’t think it was what it was, which probably meant she hadn’t given too much away, but…

Well. Could she tell him? Apart from the yelling thing—which he’d had an excuse for, who wouldn’t be angry their friends had dumped them?—and the conversation thing, which he also had an excuse for, he’d been really nice. And he really did sound like he was concerned. And it would be really nice to have a friend, because Dewey didn’t really count, seeing as she’d only ever talked to him that one time outside the basketball.

Of course, she’d only be able to talk to him if she kept sneaking down to the town. But it didn’t seem like anyone had noticed she was gone yet—well, at least Angelique thought it didn’t seem like it. That was one of the benefits to being quiet; even if you really were gone, people just thought you were holed up in your room or in the woods or something. So…maybe…

“Okay,” said Angelique in her quietest voice, hugging her knees close to her chest. “But you can’t tell anyone. At all. You have to promise.”

[dorian armel smith.]

Dorian watched her debating something in her mind. Hopefully it was whether or not to tell him whatever secret she was keeping. As he waited, he silently hoped that he had done enough to coax it out of her. And even if he had, was this answer going to be the one he was looking for? After all, even if something was wrong with this girl, it might not explain all his questions about the school she attended.

She hugged her knees to her chest and asked him to promise her that he wouldn't say anything. He paused for a moment.
"I know you don't really know me," He said, "and that we've only just met. So I know there's no real reason for you to trust me, or anything. All I can give you my word. If you got to know me, you'd find out I'm not the kind of person who breaks his promises. I won't say a thing to anyone." He crossed a finger over his chest. "Cross my heart." He added.

The bit about his not breaking promises was, of course, another complete lie. He'd broken enough promises in his life to know that he didn't care for them. That said, it was probably true that he wouldn't tell anyone this girl's big secret. If it was worth knowing, he would enjoy it far more being the only one to have it. That was always the way with secrets - they were difficult to keep, but once you shared them they became worthless.

With his dark, intense and yet somehow innocent eyes and a slight frown of concern, Dorian inwardly willed her to give it up. There was a truth waiting to be told, and it was so close that he could almost taste it...

[angelique marie tellings.]

You have to trust somebody sometime. The line was out of one of Lunella’s books—the ones about the wizard in Chicago. Actually, it was from the one after the wizard was missing or something. But it wasn’t really important who was saying it because it was still kind of true—that was Lunella who’d said that.

He seemed so sincere, telling her he wouldn’t tell anyone, cross his heart. Angelique looked at his eyes—another of Lunella’s tidbits of advice, always look at the eyes. They were very dark. If he’d been a girl, he’d have been very pretty.

Angelique swallowed. She was nervous—what if she couldn’t trust him, after all?—but it would be kind of nice to share a secret. All the books she’d ever read had made two people having a secret out to be something, well, fun.

“Okay,” she repeated, and coughed very, very quietly. “You really, really can’t tell, ever, anyone, but…” She traced a pattern on her knee, then continued. “You know…those kids who can do weird things…I’m one of them.”

[dorian armel smith.]

Dorian waited with artificial but convincing patience as the girl continued to mentally mull over whether or not to spill it. It seemed like she was a little more than hesitant. He was just about to give up on her when she whispered again. Her voice was so quiet and gentle, he had to strain his ears to hear what she was saying.

Kids who could do weird things? He knew nothing about whatever she was talking about. He had heard lots of things about strange incidents going on around St Michael's, and had his suspicions about the role of Power's Academy in them, but 'kids who can do weird things'? He was instantly captivated, though he contained his enthusiasm so that his voice was level and sturdy and unwavering.

"Weird things?" He echoed quietly, respecting her clear dislike for loudness. "What do you mean? What kind of weird things?"
Ignorance only helped his innocent act, but this ignorance wasn't faked. He really didn't know anything about this. He was looking for full disclosure, and he was determined to get it. But he had to be careful not to push to hard, not to seem too keen. He was just a good Samaritan. A hopeful could-be friend. A secret keeper.

[angelique marie tellings.]

Angelique’s head snapped up. She looked at Jack incredulously. He didn’t know? She’d thought everyone had at least heard rumors about the powered kids, but apparently Jack hadn’t. And that meant she’d have to explain…

She groaned inwardly. Explaining meant more talking. But her mother had always taught her never to leave a thing unfinished.

“Like—like in comics,” she said. “Flying and mind-reading and super-strength and stuff.”

Like in comics. That didn’t much cover it—Angelique very much doubted any of the Marvel or DC writers would have given their characters the kind of powers some of her classmates had. Like Nadia, for example; her only power was to know exactly where everything was at what time, on what end of something she called the “probability axis”. It was cool, or so Nadia said, but it would have looked pretty dumb in a comic book.

“But,” she added. “I can’t do any of that stuff.”

[dorian armel smith.]

Dorian looked at Angelique with what was for once an honest expression - and it was skepticism. Comic books? Really? Was she really telling him that the thing that was so strange about the mysterious school at the top of the hill was that it was a school for superheroes?

Sure, it would explain the strange things that happened, but it was far from the most obvious, or most plausible explanation. Any number of different reasons could have been given, and he probably would have accepted them. But the sheer strangeness of this one had him a little disbelieving.

While his thoughts were merely of confusion, and trying to figure out whether or not she was lying, his expression was different. He looked to be balancing on the line between laughing - like he realised the joke of what she was telling him - and frowning with the seriousness of the confession, and his eyes still watched her carefully for any trace of dishonesty or sarcasm. He didn't see any.

"Are you... are you messing with me? You're messing with me, right?" He asked, with his good-natured half-smile. He wanted to keep the conversation light hearted, whether she was telling tall tales or not.

The thing was, Dorian would have believed almost anything that came out of her whispering mouth. That she gave him such a ridiculous story would suggest that she wasn't lying. If she was going to lie, she would have told him something more believable.

He wasn't sure about it. And behind his friendly expression of skepticism, it was driving him insane.

[angelique marie tellings.]

Angelique flinched back. He didn’t believe her. How could he not believe her? Alright, it sounded unlikely…but if she was lying, she’d have said something that didn’t sound completely and totally crazy, right? Right?

Right. But the problem was that, well, if you reviewed her past statements, they sounded kind of completely and totally crazy. A bit of a drawback to anyone believing you. Refuge in audacity didn’t always work—especially for people who weren’t Lunella.

“No,” she said quietly, looking away from Jack. “I’m not lying. I don’t lie!”

The last word came out louder than she’d meant it to. Angelique gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth, but she’d felt the throb of power deep in her throat. She thought several very bad words and said another one under her breath. She hadn’t meant to, but she’d just lost control. All her whispering and she’d still lost it under pressure.

“I’m sorry…”

{OOC: Angelique never uses her power, so it’s in kind of bad shape xD It shouldn’t have too bad an effect on Dorian.}

[dorian armel smith.]

It happened so fast. One second, Dorian was listening to Angelique telling him that she wasn't lying, that she didn't--

And then there was an echoing scream somewhere in the distance. It was unlike any sound Dorian had heard before. It was like the screech of grinding metal and crying children. Shocked by the sudden noise, he twisted around to look in the direction the sound came from... and then he saw the crows. Thousands of them. Black as night and swarming over one another in a haze of talons and feathers, covering the entire lake as far as he could see. They were like insects - screaming, scraping monsters.

The teenager gasped and started, and in a jolt of movement he fell from the top of the rock where he was sat and his body hit the ground. Swiftly, he pushed himself back up to his feet and glanced again at the lake of crows...

But it wasn't a lake of crows. It was just a lake. The same, still grey lake that it had always been.
He stared with wide black eyes at the water, dazed and confused. But not scared. There was no fear in his eyes.

"Did--" He started, tearing his eyes from the lake to look back at Angelique, who was apologising for something. "Did you see that? Did you see them? What the hell is going on?"

His head hurt from where he bumped it on the ground when he fell. He pressed his fingers to it. No blood, he was just bruised, and he was too interested in the sensation that had just come over him to care about it. The birds in the lake... they had been real, he was sure of it. He wasn't going crazy. They had been there, and now they weren't. It was like something out of a Hitchcock movie...

[angelique marie tellings.]

Angelique started forward as Jack fell off the rock. Were her illusions really that powerful, still? Her teachers were always telling her that powers atrophied when you didn’t use them regularly. But apparently she was still strong enough to shake even people who seemed as tough as Jack.

She scrambled down the rock as quickly as she could. “Are you okay?” she whispered, being very, very careful to keep her voice as low as possible. “I—I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.”

Angelique shook her head as Jack asked if she’d seen that. “I—I never see any of it. I really am sorry; I thought I had it under control…”

Well, if you could call anything about her losing it good, at least now Jack wouldn’t have room to disbelieve her. She’d just proved what she’d been telling him. Which would really not help her case if anyone from the Academy ever found out about this.

[dorian armel smith.]

It was some kind of illusion? Caused by what? Her voice? She had the ability - the power - to induce hallucinations through just her voice?
The questions that were carefully laid out and organised in the dark corner of the world which was Dorian's mind were suddenly scattered by this blast of information.

For some moments, he stared about himself, as if trying to gather his thoughts back up and compose himself again. He didn't look at Angelique, so it was hard to tell if he even heard her repeated apologies. His mind was whirling now, with the possibilities, with the truth he'd finally fathomed. So this was it. This was the big secret that the mysterious school on the hill was housing. Immediately, he began to wonder what other freaks were being housed up there, and what they could do... the possibilities were limitless! Everything he knew and understood about the crappy little world he lived in had just been tipped upside down.

From the outside, it was impossible to tell how he was reacting to this experience.
Then he looked to Angelique again, after his pause, and with excited eyes,
"It's true..." He said, quietly, though not as quietly as his whispering companion, who had reverted to barely making any noise at all, "It is true..."
He clasped a hand to his forehead in a gesture somewhere between shock and realisation.
When he looked back to Angelique again, it was with a delighted smile.
"You're amazing!" He said suddenly, looking at her with awe. "This... thing you can do, it's incredible!"

It was incredible indeed. If she could form illusions like the crows with a single word, he could only imagine what the girl - unassuming, quiet - could do, what she could cause... All that power contained in that one body.
His hunger for information, after reeling from the shock, returned, and stronger than ever before. More and more questions were piling up in his mind, and it was a struggle to contain them while he kept his observant, wonder-filled eyes on Angelique. She was no longer some little weirdo from the school, a means of getting what he wanted. She was something else now entirely. Something fascinating.

[angelique marie tellings.]

Angelique let out a careful breath. Jack seemed to be alright except for the bruise, and technically that hadn’t been the direct effects of her power. He was looking around, and then he looked back at her. His eyes were practically shining with excitement, and then he looked away again, smacking his palm to his forehead. Angelique took a nervous step forward, then a nervous step back. It wasn’t like she was psychic or something, what if she’d broken his brain? Oh, God, she’d have to go to one of the teachers, and…

“What?” she whispered as what Jack had just said registered. Amazing? Not exactly a word she would have used. Amazing was someone who could actually control themselves. Amazing was someone who wasn’t back in power control classes with the freshmen.

“I—er.” She looked down at her shoes again. “Not…not really, I mean, compared to the other kids in my class…yeah.”

[OOC: *hangs head in shame* it is bleh >< I'll edit if you want more.}

[dorian armel smith.]

Dorian laughed shortly, his eyes still wide in amazement.
"Ha! Are you kidding?" He asked, raising his hands in the air either side of his head. It was a gesture that said he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself in his excitement, but it looked like he was perhaps going to try and stop his head spinning. When he looked back to her and found that she didn't, in fact, seem to be kidding, he dropped his hands back to his sides and narrowed his eyes in confusion, while still smiling at the discovery.

"Don't you realise it?" He asked her, apparently faintly amused by how she didn't understand the situation, "How special you are? There are... millions of people out there," He waved an arm randomly at the air behind him, vaguely in the direction of St Michaels, though he was obviously referring to the world, "Who can do impressive things... but not a single one of them can do what you can do. People have talent, and you have..."

Power.

That was the word that resounded in his mind, but he continued to look for another until he found one that suited his message.
"A gift. It's unique. It's..." He pretended to struggle to word the rest of the sentence, and eventually gave up and laughed again, this time at himself, hoping to perhaps even get Angelique to crack a smile now that she knew he wasn't going to freak out at her secret or judge her for it. "It's amazing." He said finally, and looked to her thoughtfully.

His head tilted a fraction questioningly. When he asked the question he asked next, he put it to her quietly, like they were back to sharing secrets, but he still smiled, like now he was able to enjoy being part of it.
"Can you do it again?" He asked innocently.

[angelique marie tellings.]

Angelique shook her head slowly, making her hair fall into her face, as Jack kept talking. He didn’t seem to understand what she was saying—she was far from the only powered girl, and definitely not one who had a useful ability. Useful in daily life, not in comic-book situations where a supervillain was holding the city hostage or something.

“Well,” she said, looking up and pushing her hair back, “There’s…erm, my statistics teacher, he says the likelihood of a child being born with a power is increasing…and…”

But he wasn’t listening, he was still talking. How her gift was unique, and, again, amazing. She was going to protest more, but—what was the point, really? She wasn’t exactly good at arguing, and he seemed convinced. And it wasn’t like it was a bad thing for him to be convinced of.

And then Jack asked if she could do it again. Not creepily or anything, more like curiously. But she still took a step back.

“I…yeah. But I don’t like to.”